Urging Merger
by fevil-devil
Summary: A marriage that claims to be un-arranged might ensue, though if it were by the choices of the arranged, they would have nothing to do with one another. Merricup.
1. Chapter 1

A father can often tell when his son is upset, though for Stoic the Vast, it was more difficult a feet than one would think. He wasn't who you would call the greatest father, but he did his best to protect the village and his son, and that was all anyone could ever ask of him. However, even he could tell that the news he would have to break to his son wouldn't bode well, no matter the delivery. He found Hiccup in his room, at his desk, as per usual. The boy turned his head at the sound of his father's loud footsteps.

"Hey dad, what's up?" he asked casually, unawares of the weight Stoic was about to place on his shoulders. Stoic rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Hiccup, sit down," he began, "I've got something to talk to you about." Confused, Hiccup did as he was told and Toothless ran over to his bed. "Do you remember the DuBroch clan? You may not. You were so young when we first signed the treaty." Hiccup's eyebrows furrowed.

"I remember being used as a human punching bag by their princess. Yea." He rubbed his arm nostalgically. He did not recall their princess in the greatest of fondness. She wasn't as horrible as his cousin had been, but her methods of play weren't particularly pleasant. He remembered always practicing archery with her and acting as the dummy that balanced the apple upon his head. He remembered ducking and diving away from her wayward arrows as they would narrowly miss his head, let alone the apple atop it. She would constantly complain of his uncooperativeness and scowl at him in the most difficult ways. This wasn't to mention the times she enjoyed wrestling, only doing so because she knew full well she would win. Hiccup was never a very strong child. Actually, he had only begun to grow into his Viking charms just recently. However as a child, it couldn't have been easier for a young and very aggressive girl to beat him up. Though she always did it with a sweet smile, and always offered a hand once she had won. It was probably the only sweet gesture he had ever received from her; aside for a hug goodbye. That's what he got for being the chief's son; he was always left to entertain and the keep the company of the other children.

"Yes, Princess Merida," Stoic chuckled nervously. "Well, they're coming to visit again."

"What? No… why? Is there something wrong with the treaty?" Stoic raised his hands to assure his son.

"No! No. There's nothing wrong with the treaty. They just. The DunBroch clan just wants to try and _strengthen_ it." Both men winced at the insinuation.

"Strengthen how?" Hiccup replied, his voice full of skepticism, as if he was slowly coming suspect the angle of this conversation. Stoic took a deep breath, trying to word his phrases carefully as not to bring the worst out of the situation. He had had a hard time saying no to the Lady Eleanor. She was quite the forceful woman and even as he was aware that Hiccup would not take the situation lightly, he couldn't turn the Queen down.

"They're bringing the Princess with them in hopes that the two of you could…"

"No. No. No. No!" Hiccup groaned, knowing full well how his father was about to finish his sentence. He leaned his head back and put his body into showing his discomfort."You can tell them I decline their offer."

"Well it's too late for that. They're already on their way!" his father exclaimed bashfully. He wasn't particularly fond of admitting how little control he had over the state of affairs.

"Oh come on Dad! An arranged marriage? Seriously?"

"It is not an arranged marriage. We're not forcing you to-."

"It's implied." The two men stared at each other intently for a moment, Stoic's eyes shifting about awkwardly. He knew his son was right, but there was little he could do about the situation for the moment being.

"Right well, that's all I had to say. I'll just be… I'll just be downstairs."

"Right, you do that." Stoic stumbled down the narrow staircase. The second Hiccup found that his father was out of ear shot, he ran towards Toothless and guided him to the window. He needed a midnight flight to clear his mind.

Time to himself did nothing more than agitate him further. He felt that he was right and almost nothing good came out of sitting about and thinking about how correct he was over everyone else. Hiccup couldn't think of how Merida could possibly react when his mind finally wandered to her. As he remembered her, she seemed to be strong willed and very hard headed. She would either take this as he was, or be horribly accepting of the idea. If the latter were to be true, then she would stop at nothing to marry him. At least, that what he could assume. It had been far too long since he had interacted with the princess, but their relationship reminded him too unkindly to that of the one he shared with his dear cousin Dagger. If what they shared was anything like what he had with his family, then he wanted nothing to do with it.

* * *

"Mother! We went through this! I'm _not_ getting married!" Merida called out, clutching her four poster bed. Eleanor was practically dragging her daughter by her arm, struggling to get her out of the castle and onto the ship. They were to be in Burk in a few days and the Princess was creating a dent in their schedule.

"Merida, be reasonable! We're not forcing you to get married. We're visiting Berk and you're greeting the Chief's son!"

"I'm not going!"

"Merida!"

"Mother, of all the suitors. Berk's wee little lamb? The poor thing could barely hold himself up on his own two legs. I'd break him."

"Now Merida, we just want what's best. He could've changed," Eleanor prompted, giving up on forcing her daughter to move. "As nations of the seas, we must come together and to strengthen our bonds and forces. This is the best way to do that. Berk is a strong little village with a great amount of resources and skill. They slay dragons! They could be a great asset to us." Merida gripped to the pole tighter and Eleanor sighed. She walked over to her daughter, defeated under the circumstances. Regardless, she would have her go, but Eleanor simply despaired at the saddened look on her daughter's face. "Look dearie, you needn't marry the boy, but at least meet him? We've already agreed to go."

"You're the queen! Can't you just call it off?" Eleanor shook her head and began to affectionately comb through her daughter's unruly hair with her fingers.

"Bit too late for that I'm afraid. We've made the promise and agreement to arrive in Berk, and that we shall keep."

* * *

Stoic had gathered most of the people around the docks. He had gone through the trouble of taking a bath and even attempting to mangle at his beard, which he soon decided to leave be. The Queen of DunBroch really made him nervous. Hiccup stood boldly next to him, an annoyed expression on his face. Just behind were the other Dragon Riders, all equally uneasy of the clan's arrival, especially as they had to hide their dragons at the academy; at least, for the time being. Before long, the crowd could make out the ships sailing towards them in the distance. The white sails floated through the foggy day and the few people awing at the immense ship could be heard from the back. The side of the boat was decorated with shields and detailed carvings, most often that of bears. The Celtic styled designs were very intricate and almost unnecessary on such a large ship. Hiccup fidgeted with the side of his armor, trying his best to give off a decent impression. The last thing he needed was to be pushed around by this princess again. He had grown and was fully capable of handling himself. At least, he hoped he was.

To be quite frank, he was as nervous as a person could get, and certainly more anxious than anyone in the village.

As the ship docked, the passengers began to descend. The first of the royalty was the Queen and King. The King was a burly man, who reminded Hiccup greatly of his own father. There were masses of bright orange hair that stuck out in all directions. The man walked with a limp, a plank of wood where his right leg was, and seemed equally, if not more so as awkward as Stoic. The Queen was a different story almost entirely. She was a tall and slender woman, made taller and more slender by her long flowing brown hair, streaked with a line of grey. Her manner of walking was elegant and kind as she held gently onto her husband's arm. The Queen was not as fearsome as Stoic had last recalled and less so to Hiccup who had only remembered her from his father's words. Soon following the couple was a set of triplets, all with bright orange hair like their father. It seemed the entire family had received the trait. The boys ran off the ramp frantically, winding back and forth until you could barely tell which was which. Not that it had been possible to begin with as they were all completely identically and equally as mischievous. Hiccup could tell right away that they would have to watch out for those too. They were too much like the twins, but with ten times the brain capacity.

There was only one other member of the royal family that had yet to leave the ship. They waited for a moment too long as nothing happened. The crew members looked confusedly at the beginning of the ramp, expecting the Princess to step out. The Queen looked more annoyed than she was perturbed by the situation and called for her daughter, hoping to be as discrete as possible. Eventually, Lady Eleanor marched back up the ramp, forcing a smile to the crowd as she passed again. Hiccup could just make out the irritated expression she truly gave off and through his fear, he was mildly amused. It seemed that the Princess was just as eager as he was at the idea of wedding. Finally, the two women stepped out into view and though the entirety of the entrance was strained, they managed to make their way down onto the dock. Merida hadn't changed much since Hiccup had last seen her, though her expression wasn't the usual smile he had once known. She looked to be as irritated as her mother as she was dragged across the dock to stand next to her family. What had really caught Hiccup's notice was the fact that her hair had easily out ruled that of her father's and brothers' combined. It was almost laughable that it grew to three times the size of her head and Hiccup stifled a chuckle. The Princess did not leave his amusement unnoticed and found the second to glare at him, which he was immediately taken aback by. This would certainly be an interesting meeting.

* * *

"Well she seems, nice," Astrid commented as soon as the Royal family was out of earshot. Stoic took no time in greeting them and showing them to their temporary home. Of course, she had meant her statement in the most sarcastic manner possible. Hiccup wasn't the only one to notice how she had glared.

"Yea, did you get a load of her hair?" Tuffnut sniggered, gesturing to his own head and exaggerating its size, then comparing it to Ruffnut's.

"The thing looked like it could eat you!" she added, grabbing her brother and using her arms as the jaws of an imaginary monster. The twins couldn't get enough of their own jokes.

"Guys, guys, is this really necessary?" Hiccup complained, hoping to calm his friends.

"He's right," Astrid chimed, "I mean, Hiccup has to marry her, let's not make things worse."

"I don't have to marry her. I just have to meet her. Our parents think that once we meet, we'll fall in love."

"Ha!" Snotlout snorted. "Fall in love with you? She'd have to be blind, deaf, _and_ stupid." He doubled over laughing, and Astrid did the honor of helping him to the ground with a good kick, stomping the side of his face with her boot. As Snotlout apologized with a stubborn tone in his voice, Fishlegs walked forward.

"Hiccup, you have to admit, she's a bit, scary."

"Yea, you're telling me," he huffed.

"Are you really going to go through with it?" Astrid asked, stepping off of Snotlout's face. "I mean, what are you going to do? Could you really say no to your dad like that? He's the chief. And she's the Princess. It sounds like a pretty big deal." Once again, Hiccup could always rely on Astrid to point out the most obviously painful aspects of any situation.

"Thank you Astrid," he announced, indicating that he wanted her to stop talking.

"What _are_ you going to do?" Snotlout repeated. They all looked to Hiccup for his answer.

"I… am going to go meet the Princess of DunBroch."


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone in the village knew to leave the two alone. It was practically made as a public announcement along with the news of the DunBroch family's arrival. Hiccup could feel eyes follow him as he walked to the Royal family's temporary hut. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the large wooden door, hoping they wouldn't answer. Of course, seconds later, the door swung open to reveal Lady Eleanor.

"Hello Hiccup," she greeted formally. "Come in." Hiccup stepped in and stood awkwardly by the front of the home. It looked like all of the other huts in the area, though a bit larger, and a bit grander. Hiccup wondered if his dad had cleared the hut for the occasion. "Merida will be down in just a moment." He nodded respectfully, not particularly eager to meet the Princess. A scuffle and a few thumps could be heard upstairs, followed by a couple of hollers and shrieks and the calm footsteps of royalty sauntering down the steps. Merida was unchanged from when she had stepped off the ship, though it could be argued that her hair had become even more unruly. Possibly because it seemed that the Queen had brought a brush to it, or perhaps it was the fighting that may have ensued. The three of them stood awkwardly in silence for a while, Hiccup receiving a full blast of Merida's deathly glare. In a sense, she was more frightening than the dragons.

"Hello Princess. It's good to see you again." His tone lacked luster but his message somehow managed to make its way into the air. More silence followed and the Queen elbowed her daughter, prompting her to speak. Merida jerked.

"Likewise," she replied. Lady Eleanor sighed and pushed Merida and Hiccup out the door.

"Why don't you to go out for a nice, long walk. It's lovely outside. Talk for a while, while we unpack and settle in. This could be a long stay." The door slammed promptly behind them. Hiccup stood shocked on the porch while Merida huffed and walked off.

"Merida, where are you going?" Hiccup asked, bothered by her attitude.

"Away from you," she yelled back. Hiccup rolled his eyes and had half a mind to let her run off on the island.

"She's going to find them you know," Astrid's voice called out to him. Hiccup jumped at the sound and turned to face her, her hand on her hip and her face dawning an annoyingly knowing expression. He looked back at where Merida had disappeared. "And she's going to kill them. Or at least, she'll try. Are you going to wait to see who wins?"

"Augh, I hate it when you're right," Hiccup moaned, turning around and making a beeline out towards the Princess. It wasn't difficult to spot her beacon of hair as she trudged through the woods with greater skill than Hiccup had anticipated. She seemed to know what she was doing as she jumped over logs and roots with the help of the lower tree branches. "Merida!" Hiccup hollered. The girl whipped her head back and looked surprised at sound of her name. It was the first time he had seen an expression on her face that did not look as if she wanted to murder him.

"Go away!" she called back. Her accent was more prominent than ever and Hiccup laughed to himself.

"Oh come on! I just want to talk!" He began to run after her, careful not to catch his left foot on anything. It was a bit more prone to accident than his right. She was certainly a fast runner when she put her mind to it.

"We are _not_ talking!" she repeated, picking up her pace. Hiccup would have thought that the bow and quiver would weigh her down, but he thought wrong. He would have to stop her before she got too far into the forest. Any time they had to hide their dragons, they would release them and let them wander away from the village. Merida was heading out just a bit too far.

"Look, I don't want to marry you alright?" Hiccup admitted, hoping he would catch her if she knew his lack of intension. Thankfully, she began to slow and came to a stop. Hiccup was huffing from the jog and finally caught up to her.

"You don't want to marry me," she said. It was less of a question than it was a statement. "Then why are you chasing me?"

"Because the woods are dangerous," he fibbed. It was partially the truth. If she was going to know about the dragons, he would have to find a better way to introduce her to them.

"I can take care of myself thank you!" Merida said stubbornly, turning to walk further into the woods.

"Merida!" Hiccup whined. Suddenly, he heard a rustle in the bushes nearby and he looked immediately to see black hide. He really couldn't have worse timing and he really didn't need a repetition of introducing Astrid to the idea. The large reptile peaked through the bushes like an excited pup, wanting to play. Hiccup shooed him away, attempting to be stealthy. "Not now Toothless." The dragon seemed to comply when he frowned and sauntered off.

"What was that," the princess inquired.

"What was what?"

"That noise. Don't act like you didn't hear anything Hiccup." Merida held out her bow and pointed the end at Hiccups face, aiming for his nose.

"Look, where do you plan on going anyway?" he asked, changing the subject as the princess continued to look around cautiously, removing the end of her bow from his face. "Were you just going to walk into the forest and hope to find something to whisk you away?" Those were probably a bad choice of words, seeing as there was something that could do that, but he hoped she wouldn't find them just yet.

"I was going to shoot some arrows," she explained absentmindedly, clearly not caring for the conversation. "I know I heard something," she muttered, poking through the bushes that Toothless had been hiding not moments ago. Hiccup stood silently and prayed that his dragon had long fled, as he wished he could.

"How good are you with that…" he wondered, asking both because he intended to distract her with her interests, and because he was very weary of the weapon she held. She pulled an arrow from her quiver around her waist, having had shot her last one at a rabbit, and mounted it on her bow, not yet pulling back. Hiccup wanted to stop her from doing anything rash and didn't know how to proceed.

"I'm good enough," she muttered. All of her attention was set to finding what had made the rustling noise. She knew full well it was much too large to be a small animal and stomped loudly about. Merida remembered her mother mentioning dragons and she began to wonder how well her arrows would pierce through dragon hide. Thinking about her results, she decided against her search and calmly returned her arrow to its home. Hiccup released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding as quietly as possible. "Have you really got dragons here?" she asked, briskly continuing her trek deeper into the woods. Hiccup was complied to follow. He hoped that he would be able to at least introduce the dragons to her, as she seemed to be the biggest issue. Her stubborn personality didn't leave much room for friendly dragons. They had already moved in with the rest of the community, and hiding them was proving to be a larger problem than anyone had anticipated. Showing the royal family could either be disastrous or lovely. He prayed for the latter.

"Yea, and they're kind of everywhere," he began, both telling her the truth and hoping to scare her with it. Maybe if she knew how frequent a dragon encounter could be, she would stop wandering. Unknown to Hiccup, Merida was curious to know about the dragon that had snuck up on them earlier. "You've got your typical Terrible Terrors, the occasional Gronkle and Deadly Nadder…"

"Yea, I don't care. Don't know what any of those are anyway."

"Right…Well, regardless, it's pretty dangerous out here if you-,"

"What do you do with them? How do you kill them?"

"Uh, just the usual stuff, axes and traps… there's actually a great story behind that…"

"Again, don't really care."

"Right," he mumbled, having expected her reply. He looked up at her as she loosened the string on her bow. "You know, your bow won't work on a dragon," he pointed out, understanding why she had asked in the first place. As stubborn as the princess was, she wasn't stupid.

"Yea," she replied, turning around to look at Hiccup with an expression that questioned if he thought her daft, "I figured that part out."

Without warning, a large dark figure leaped from another set of bushes and onto Hiccup. It didn't take him long to figure out it was Toothless, but to Merida, the sight was horrifying. Toothless licked his face mercilessly and Hiccup couldn't help but laugh while simultaneously trying to keep his composure and push his dragon off of him. Merida drew her bow again, as it was the only thing she knew how to do, especially in the situation.

"Hiccup!" she screamed, aiming her arrow at the beast. She wasn't sure if she should shoot, mostly because his laughter confused and frustrated her.

"No, no wait!" Hiccup cried through his laughter, holding his hands up at Merida. "He's not going to hurt you." She eyed Toothless nervously as he got off of his friend and backed away. He looked at Merida with great curiosity and his excitement had yet to subside. Hiccup sighed at the feeling of déjà vu he had and held Toothless' saddle. She still held her bow tight and aimed at Toothless, something the dragon didn't particularly appreciate. Hiccup walked between the two and used himself as a barrier, hoping that the princess cared enough not to shoot him. He looked intently at Merida's scared expression and in the same tone he used to train dragons, he spoke to her. " Lower your bow. It's alright. He's not going to hurt you. He's friendly. Come on. You'll be okay. I won't let him hurt you. Let me explain." Never allowing her dumbstruck gaze to leave Toothless, she loosened the string and placed the arrow back into its quiver. Her eyes darted over to the saddle and make-shift tail, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"You're friends?" she noted.

"Yes. He's my friend. Merida, this is Toothless. Toothless, this is Merida." He put his hand on Toothless' nose and reached out to gesture that Merida give him her hand. This was going better than it had with Astrid. "Come here. It'll be fine. Just relax and show him he can trust you and he'll show you the same respect." Quietly, she walked forward and gave Hiccup her hand. He hadn't noticed how small the princess was before but his hand dwarfed hers. She had become fascinated in the few seconds that she had to absorb the situation. From the looks of things, the people here rode dragons. The saddle was enough to tell her that. She wanted to try. "Close your eyes and look down. Stay calm and let him come to you." She did as he said and shut her eyes, her hand still outstretched. Her heart was racing as the seconds lulled by and she jumped when she felt the cold scales touch her hand. Merida opened her eyes and looked at the large reptile, watching his eyes open and dilate. She released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and laughed.

"Amazing. Hello Toothless," she grinned, hugging the dragon's head like she did her horse, Angus. Toothless snuggled into the space of her neck, taking to her quickly.

"Well that went better than expected…" Hiccup muttered to himself, though it did not go unheard by the girl cuddling his dragon.

"Could I ride him?" she asked excitedly. Hiccup wasn't sure how to feel about her sudden change of attitude towards him at the sight of a dragon. He gave her a skeptical look, and she caught her behavior and immediately shut herself down. "I. My mother told me you all killed dragons." Hiccup nodded solemnly.

"We used to."

"But you don't. You ride them."

"We don't _anymore_."

"What happened?"

"I couldn't, wouldn't kill him." He walked towards Toothless and touched his hide protectively. Merida looked at him sincerely, for once, not sending him a glare. Her lips thinned, nearing a small smile but her stubborn nature wouldn't allow it through.

"My mother doesn't know that," she realized. She remembered the fire in her mother's eyes at the idea of bonding with such a strong and powerful island. "Or my father. They think you kill dragons. All of you."

"Yea, I know. That's why had to hide them," Hiccup explained. Merida began to pace, stopping only to order Hiccup about. She became quite animated when she was upset or worried.

"Hiccup, you have to tell them."

"I know. But I was just giving it a bit of time."

""This is going to break the treaty! It's going to start a war!"

"Thanks for the obvious princess."

"Augh! I knew we never should have come here!" He didn't want to make a comment to her exclamation, knowing full well it would only set her off further. He wanted to say that she shouldn't have come, that she could just go home, that they could claim hatred of one another and call off any form of wedding that could possibly ever happen. In his mind, it would have been best that she just leave. But he couldn't say any of that. Instead, he fell silent, distracting himself with Toothless' crooked harness. Abruptly, the princess grabbed Hiccup's arm and dragged him down to the ground, forcing him to take a seat. "I want to know everything, right here, right now."

"Wait, I can't just…"

"Our parents think we're 'falling in love'." She said the words with a tinge of disgust in her tone. "I get to learn all about dragons, and we can maybe figure out a way out of this problem!" Hiccup wanted to point out flaws in her plan but he could not place anything specific except for his complete apathy in explaining things to her. He wasn't particularly fond of the girl, though he could read now that he didn't despise her. It wasn't much to go off of. He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his head, contemplating where the beginning of his story was.

"Fine. But we're going to be here for a very, long while."

**Author's Note: **I'm surprised at how spontaneously popular this story became so I felt compelled to write quicker. I'm also surprised at how many people thought this was a one shot haha. Sorry the plot line seems a bit rushed but I got excited. Thank you so much to everyone who's reading. I am so grateful to all of you and I'm so happy that you enjoy my work.


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